Spare club falls into sand trap before your shot. Penalty?

[Fourputt]

Are you really suggesting there should be a specific statement that says you may pick up and use a club that you had previously laid down in a bunker?

Remember, if it doesn't say you can't then you can.

But it does say that if you touch the hazard with your hand, it's a penalty.  Laying a club can easily be done without touching the sand, but picking it back up is a different situation.

I'm just playing Devil's advocate here.  There is a lot of room for misinterpretation in this, and most players, even those who feel that they are quite conversant with the rules, could read different treatments or rulings for the same action.

[Rulesman]

A club is inter alia a movable obstruction. Exception 1(a) applies.

[Fourputt]

A club is inter alia a movable obstruction. Exception 1(a) applies.

Thank you, That is what I couldn't find.  I failed to make that very logical connection.

[Dormie1360]

Okay, to extend this (and at the risk of sounding like MeFree), how do you come to that conclusion?  The assumption in the exception is that the clubs you laid down will not be picked up until after you have played your stroke.  If you don't follow that assumption and pick up the extra club(s) prior to making your stroke, what do you see in the rules that absolves you of any penalty?  I'm really just trying to see where the line is being drawn, and to find out how that determination is made from the way that the rule and decision is worded at present.  How many times can you pick up and lay down clubs, touching the surface in the process, before your motive comes into question?

Personally, I can't remember ever laying a club in a bunker, simply because I never saw any reason for it.  It's just as easy to walk over and lay them down outside of the hazard.  I've know that it was allowed for as lonorg as I've been following the rules, but I just never needed to do it.

Hi Rick,

I don't think the highlighted assumption is correct.  Think of a player probing the sand for a lost ball with his club.  Once the ball is found, the player lays his club down in the bunker and recreates his lie.  He then picks up his club, touching the sand with his hand in doing so.   All this is done under the rules.

I'm pretty sure I've seen videos showing all this.  Probably at a workshop.

I do not believe there is a limit on the number of clubs or how many times that you change your mind.  If the player is doing so to test the condition, this would be something for the committee to decide.

[Rulesman]

Thank you, That is what I couldn't find.  I failed to make that very logical connection.